Gauntlet Hair

For all the dark tones pulsing through Gauntlet Hair's new album Stills, there is also a guileless affection for the goth industrialists and post-punks who blazed a shadowy path through the 80s and 90s. Recorded during Portland, Oregon's grey winter days in producer Jacob Portrait's (Unknown Mortal Orchestra) appropriately named studio "The Cave," Stills is a modern salute to Trent Reznor and his cohort's arena-ready post-apocalyptica.

The album follows the once-Denver-based band's 2011self-titled debut for Dead Oceans and singles spread across labels like Forest Family and Mexican Summer. After moving back to their hometown of Chicago last year, drummer Craig Nice and singer/guitarist Andy R. looked to their teenage selves for inspiration. "I started listening again to the stuff I would have in my discman in the back of my mom's car," says Nice. "White Zombie, Marilyn Manson -- the production on those records is so amazing. Nothing sounds like that anymore."

Mining childhood nostalgia for inspiration has proved effective. Stills cuts like "Human Nature," "GID" and "Waste Your Art" have the signifiers of industrial and minimal-wave a la British contemporaries The Durutti Column & Joy Division, but all the fluidity and momentum of INXS & Depeche Mode's 80s pop. Here are the dirty, fuzzed out guitars. Here is the guttural groan on "Bad Apple." Here is Seattle grunge's nasal sneer on "Heave." Here are your tinny synths. Here is your stomping back beat. Here is your horror, and your joy.
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The photo above is not only the very first usage of an Instagrammed photo on the Dead Oceans blog, it also features the supra-vibrant, limited-run yellow vinyl edition of Gauntlet Hair’s self-titled debut record (Out Oct. 4). To claim one for yourself, be one of the first 50 fans to order the LP version now through Dead Oceans Mail Order or be one of the first 50 orders at Insound.

Meanwhile, the band just announced a whole mess of live dates, including a run to New York’s CMJ festival in October and a subsequent tour with Fat Possum artists Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Check out all upcoming Gauntlet Hair live dates HERE.

It’s a mere three weeks until the CMJ Music Marathon takes over much of New York City, and we’re thrilled to announce that we are partnering with our Secretly Canadian and Jagjaguwar family for an amazing night of music, featuring Gauntlet Hair and recent signee A Place to Bury Strangers!

Gauntlet Hair CDs and LPs are now available for pre-order. All orders will receive a download code that will activate on October 1st, more than two weeks prior to the release date. The first 50 LP pre-orders will receive yellow-colored vinyl. Click here to pre-order Gauntlet Hair at SC Distribution.

The new Gauntlet Hair record is imminent, and we have mp3 “Top Bunk” to share right now. The self-titled record, Gauntlet Hair, is coming out on October 18th, and Gorilla Vs. Bear calls it an “evolved debut collection of cavernous, thunderously loud, danceable avant-pop jams.”